Dec. 15, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



408 



side. After about half an hour of continual stone throw- 

 ing, during which the shikari fired five or six shots, one 

 of the coolies said he saw the hear. He pointed into a 

 bush, but we could see nothing except merely a dark 

 shadow like hundreds of dark shadows in the bushes 

 around, but the man persisted it was a bear. 



S. then decided to fire a shot at the shadow (which was 

 only about 10yds. off), whatever it was, ami did so. We 

 then waited some time and nothing moved, so we re- 

 solved to go up to the bush. On getting there we found 

 a monster he-bear lying dead; the last shot of S.'s had hit 

 him between the ears and brained him. He had four 

 .50-caliber express bullets and three 12-bore balls in him, 

 all except one round bullet which broke his wrist being 

 good body shots, any one of which would have done for 

 most ordinary bears'. It took eighteen coolies to drag 

 him out of the jungle into the rice field, where he, to- 

 gether with the smaller bear, was skinned. He must 

 have weighed somewhere about 8001bs. One of S.'s first 

 shots had evidently touched his spine and cripjded him, 

 or he would never have stuck to cover the way he did. 



Before concluding this, I would like to say something 

 on the sighting of sporting rifles. I found for snap shoot- 

 ing at large game in the jungles, which much resembles 

 shooting at rabbits with a shotgun, that back sights are 

 useless. They make one. throw high, and after missing 

 a couple of tolerably easy running shots going across me 

 at bears at 40yds. or so, I tried what I could do without a 



hack sight at all. I removed mine from the "Winchester 

 single express, and for the high fore sight I substituted a 

 pretty coarse bead, which I made myself out of a tooth- 

 brush handle. This bead, which showed white against 

 the dark jungle, answered admirably for snap shooting 

 at short range, though it would not perhaps do for fine 

 long-range target work. I have since fitted a folding 

 back sight to lie flat on the barrel when not wanted for 

 use. Bengal Sepoy. 



GAME AND GUN. 



OUR shooting this season has not been up to the stand- 

 ard of other years, quite to my surprise. It may 

 be, however, that it will impiove after cooler weather 

 arrives. It is not too hot during the day for comfortable 

 hunting, although lately the nights have been quite cold, 

 and as a result ducks are flying in larger number. Quail, 

 I think, are still back on high mesas and foothills. Doer 

 are being displayed in market, being brought in from the 

 mountains by Mexicans and Indians. Deer shooting will 

 not be real good until snow on the higher mountains 

 drives them dowm to lower levels. I have two trips in 

 contemplation for December. I think now that the one 

 which I shall decide to take will be an excursion after 

 ducks and sea bass off the coast of Mexico, starting from 

 Guaymas. I hear very flattering reports of the sport to 

 be had with rod and gun in that vicinity. 



I have been much, interested in a* tides from different 

 contributors in relation to the best manner of loading a 

 shotgun. After trying every conceivable charge of 

 powder and shot and all kinds of wads and shells, I have 

 adopted the following: My gun is a 10-gauge, 81bs., full 

 choke. For quail, doves and rabbits I use 5drs. powder 

 with one fin. felt wad with cardboard wad on each side 

 of it over powder, ljoz. No. 8 shot with cardboard on 

 top. Loading in this Avay I made the following target 

 with right barrel: At 35yds. I put inside of a 24in. circle 

 457 pellets. With the left barrel I made the following 

 penetration at same distance. Shooting at a block of paper 

 the shot penetrated 72 sheets. The only change made in 

 loading for ducks is to use ^dr. more powder and ioz. less 

 shot, thus getting best possible target and penetration. 



My purpose in loading is to use a small amount of shot. 

 In your correspondent "C. D. C," of Northumberland, 

 N. H., I recognize an old school-mate, and am pleased to 

 see that he can tell "trout yarns" on paper as well as 

 before camp-fire or village store stove in old New Hamp- 

 shire. I hope that he and Mr. Wells will continue their 

 investigations in regard to pulling strength of trout, 

 until we can go into the woods with leaders so carefully 

 tested that nevermore can we tell of the "biggest trout" 

 of all getting away by breaking a leader. G. N. K. 



BIG GAME IN DAKOTA. 



ELKHORN RANCH, Medora, Dakota, Dec. 1.— Editor 

 Forest and Stream: During the past season my bag- 

 has been two mountain sheep, four antelope and eight 

 deer, all shot round the ranch, as I have made no regular 

 hunting trip. One ram had very fine horns. 



My old .45 75 being rather the worse for five years hard 

 service, I have taken up the new Winchester model, the 

 .45-90, the so-called model of 1886, It has proved most 

 satisfactory; the first weapon for which I have ever been 

 satisfied to exchange the old .45-75. It has a lower tra- 

 jectory, a stronger breech action, is absolutely accurate 

 for any range at which game can be killed with the least 

 certainty, and is as handy and capable of standing rough 

 work as the old gun. I use the regular cartridge, 90grs. 

 of powder and a 300gr. solid ball, but I am inclined to 

 think that for shooting bear at close quarters it would be 

 better to take a Keene bullet, half as heavy again. With 

 such a bullet it would be impossible to find a better 

 weapon for dangerous game, and the effectiveness of the 

 Keene principle I have tested with the old .45-75, having 

 been attracted to it by the mention made of it by General 

 Wingate, in his interesting "Horseback Tom* through the 

 Yellowstone." 



It is woi'th while carrying a few such bullets for occa- 

 sions when hunting dangerous game in thick brush, and 

 the new 1886 model Winchester seems to me the most 

 satisfactory rifle I have ever yet come across for the 

 wilder kinds of hunting in tire United States. With the 

 possible exception of the nearly extinct buffalo there is 

 no game for which I would not recommend it, and 

 personally I should use it for buffalo, too. 



Bear and cougar seem to be getting more plentiful than 

 ever round the ranch , but without properly teamed dogs 

 it is nearly impossible to get them out of the dense 

 thickets and heavy timbered bottoms. 



Theodore Roosevelt. 



FOUR DAYS ON GRAND" RIVER. 



TWO amateur sportsmen, of Buffalo, N. Y., after ma- 

 ture deliberation as to where to invest in a four days' 

 vacation, decided upon going to Dimnville, Ont., forty 

 miles from Buffalo on the Grand River, and five miles 

 from Lake Erie. 



We took the afternoon Grand Trunk train, crossed the 

 International Bridge, and were halted by the Canadian 

 customs officials on the other side, where we were made 

 to deposit 20 per cent, of the value of our guns, as security 

 for our bringing them back to this side, and had to pay 30 

 per cent, duty on our ammunition. Arriving at Dunn- 

 ville in the evening, we were piloted to the Queen's Hotel, 

 where we made headquarters during our stay. The house 

 is situated oil the bank of the river opposite the dam, and 

 host Root took excellent care of ourselves and belongings, 

 all for a dollar a day. The precautions we had taken to 

 exchange all our money for Canadian currency, we found 

 were unnecessary, although further back in the country 

 we were told a discount was exacted on American paper 

 money, but not on gold. 



There are a numl er of boatmen within a short distance of 

 the hotel, who make it a business to take parties out hunting 

 or fishing. They furnish the boats; carry their own guns, 

 tackle and decoys; shoot after you do, giving you all they 

 kill or catch; and charge $2 per day. After a couple of 

 days of experience under their guidance a person econom- 

 ically disposed can hire a boat for fifty cents, do his own 

 work and save the difference in expense, but it is hardly 

 to be presumed that his bag will be as heavy as with a 

 guide to assist him. 



The morning after our arrival found us embarked, I 

 with Mai'cene Green and my partner with Marcene's son 

 Gorley, each in a little flat-bottomed hunting boat bedded 

 with hay and precious little room to spare. Marsh land 

 extends* from quarter to half a mile back from the river 

 on both sides, and the mud is so yielding that walking 

 through it is impossible, while it is entirely overflowed 

 every spring. A boat is therefore a necessity. Four 

 sluggish creeks force their way through the rushes and 

 wild rice, and empty their drainage into the Grand River 

 between Dunnville and the lake. While one boat ex- 

 plored Sulphur Creek, the other investigated Cranberry 

 Creek further down. Turning a bend in the former with 

 cautious punting paddle, we spy through the tall grass a 

 half dozen bluebills beyond range. This creek empties 

 into the river through a sort of delta, which enabled the 

 boat to go back, leaving the writer crouched in the reeds 

 and mud on shore, while Marcene pulled around up 

 through one of the other outlets and started the flock up 

 in our direction. On they came as straight as fate, and 

 twice as fast, until within range, when we let slip a 

 charge of No. 6 propelled by 5drs. of ducking powder, 

 and as one bird dropped and the rest swerved to the 

 right, we attempted to step forward for another shot, but 

 alas, the spirit was willing but the flesh was no match 

 for that mud. While in ambush we had gradually settled 

 into it, and the first attempt was a flounder. We pulled 

 the second barrel and our first boot off together, the for- 

 mer several yards behind the flock. A struggle, a splash, 

 a volley of impatient expletives, a laughing boatman and 

 a woebegone, bedraggled amateur, whose feelings were a 

 curious mixture of pride in having drawn first blood, and 

 of exasperation at what it had cost. 



After thoroughly scraping off the mud with the paddle 

 we picked up our bird and went on out into the river and 

 down stream. All along the banks were fresh muskrat 

 nouses, and we shot one of the rodents before we reached 

 the half-way tree, so called because it is half way between 

 Dunnville and Port Maitland, at the mouth of the river. 

 We also stopped to look at several deadfalls or letter D 

 traps which Marcene had set at various points along the 

 river ban 1 s, and in one we found a mink and in another 

 a muskrat. He told us the best bait for mink was a 

 skinned muskrat, and for muskrat carrots or parsnips; 

 and he ought to know, as he has earned his living from 

 the river for forty-seven years, boy and man. 



Well, we overtook the other boat coming out of Cran- 

 berry Creek, and they had two butterballs, which my 

 partner h d secured after a long and tedious detour back 

 from the bank of the creek, through the weeds and grass 

 on hands and knees. He killed one with the first barrel, 

 and wounded another with the second, and as it started 

 for the reeds on the opposite bank of the creek he fired 

 three more shots at it, but the bird would have got far 

 enough to hide in the marsh had not his boatman came 

 punting along up and caught and wrung its neck, and 

 even after this, as they were starting down the creek, 

 this stubborn duck got up and walked around the boat. 

 We could only say to our partner that we trusted the 

 fowl would not prove so tough after death as before it, 

 but from our friend's looks since our return we are led to 

 believe that he made a mistake and tried to eat that 

 duck instead of giving it to the poor, as we advised. 



Half a mile before reaching the lake we selected a hard 

 spot on the bank, and after setting out our decoys, made 

 a hide of the tall grass, and lay in wait for incomers 

 from the lake. First four butterballs dropped in as 

 noiselessly as so many spirits; they departed too short, 

 and left us wondering that we failed to drop them all. 

 Scarcely had we gathered them in and resumed our vigil 

 when seven hooded or crested mergansers decoyed beauti- 

 fully. To our utter chagrin we killed but one — which 

 was a beautiful drake, and which we have had stuffed 

 and mounted — and wounded another, to which we gave 

 chase and lost it, losing several fine chances at other 

 flocks in the meantime. He was afterward captured by 

 our partner after standing a regular skirmish fire, and 

 nearly escaping after all. We have fully made up our 

 minds that No. 6 chilled shot may kill mallards, as the 

 writer has demonstrated on the Illinois River time and 

 again, but it won't do for these little ducks after they 

 have got their winter underclothing on. 



Pulling up stakes — or rather decoys — we rowed down 

 to Port Maitland, ate up everything there was at the 

 hotel, and chased the cook for more; inspected the har- 

 bor, the lighthouse, the enormous hills of pure sand; saw 

 a recently captured raccoon keep four men at bay in one 

 end of a flatboat, and finally jump overboard and escape; 

 watched the fishing up of a cargo of wheat from the bot- 

 tom of the harbor, where it had been thrown to save a 

 sinking schooner; and finally, after another turn behind 

 the decoys, started back for Dunnville, arriving there an 

 horn after dark with tired bodies, consuming appetites 

 and a dozen ducks. 

 The next day was Sunday, and we unproved the time 



by making friends, among them Major Smith, a promi- 

 nent business man of Dunnville, and a thorough-going 

 disciple of the rod and gun. His model hunting boat and 

 flock of decoys were placed at our disposal, and a trip 

 was arranged to be made into the country behind his 

 trotter to a place where the partridges were warranted to 

 stand on a log and "sass" a man if he didn't shoot at 

 them, but a miserable warm, misty rain set in Sunday 

 night, and continued with but one intermission until our 

 limited tickets of leave had. expired. Meanwhile the 

 ducks sat out in the lake and laughed at us, refusing to 

 come in until such time as a strong northeaster and a 

 snowstorm drove them to it. 



We looked out upon a sullen, sodden landscape on the 

 last day of our stay, but finally decided to try it once by 

 ourselves in the Major's boat, just for luck. It may be 

 appropriate to state here that while my partner weighs 

 in the neighborhood of a keg of nails, I weigh, about 

 twice that, which accotmted for my always playing the 

 galley slave and being chained to the oar when we two 

 navigate together. On the first day out my partner had 

 discovered an inaccessible pond in an unapproachable 

 marsh, where an unassailable flock of eighteen teal had 

 fixed their impregnable headquarters. Nothing would 

 do but we must make an attempt to surprise them, so we 

 rowed up Broad Creek until the oars struck the shore on 

 either side, then punted with the long paddle and an oar 

 till we grounded in the mud, then the light-weight part- 

 ner waded some ten rods and dragged the beat, while I 

 poled. Then dry ground appeared and we gave up and 

 turned about. After reaching moisture again the evil 

 one possessed the partner to fire his gun in the general 

 direction of the teal pond, to see if he could ' 'scare them 

 up." Sure enough, up they rose in grand style, circled 

 around a couple of times, then came directly toward our 

 boat, pretty well up and eighteen strong. We crouched 

 and glowered in the bottom of the boat, but they piped 

 us off, and as they approached divided into two sections 

 and split to the right and left. Then it was that the 

 writer rose to his knees, sighted the drum major of the 

 flock to the right, pulled the trigger, and found himself 

 past redemption over the side of the boat, which was halJ 

 full of water, deep in the mud, and no means of know- 

 ing what portion of his anatomy went overboart first. 

 His light-waisted partner whose shot he had spoiled 

 utterly refused to come to his relief, and here we will 

 leave him to struggle out or strangle, as best suits the 

 fancy of the many readers of the Forest and Stream. 



H. A. P. 



MANAHAWKEN DUCKING RESORT. 



NEW YORK, Dec. 6, 1887.— Most sportsmen have their 

 favorite haunts. In years past I used to visit every 

 fall such places as Maxon's and Sammy Porrinc's on Bar- 

 negat Bay. I was younger then and enjoyed them 

 much. But it has been reserved to a recent visit in 

 which to find the gem of all gunning houses— and withal 

 a perfect sanitarium — and at the same time to have a sort 

 of Robinson Crusoe experience. 



A friend, one of the chief officers of the New York Cen- 

 tral Railroad Company, asked me to join him on Friday 

 last on a short exemsion to Humphrey Martin's fishing 

 and gunning house on Barnegat Bay. With his permis- 

 sion I added two friends to the party. The season was 

 late and we were to return on the Monday morning fol- 

 lowing. You may judge of our surprise when, after 

 leaving the city in the after coon, we found ourselves in 

 the early evening on a rail track crossing Barnegat Bay 

 at right angles to the main and about ten miles to the 

 south of Barnegat Light. There are several islands in 

 this part of the bay, and the railroad, which is a part of 

 the Pennsylvania Railroad, runs partly on trestlework 

 and partly on the islands. Humphrey Martin owns one 

 of these islands, called Bonnet Island, and on this island 

 on the south side of the track he has built a small gun- 

 ning house, constructed externally as a house, but inter- 

 nally as a first-class yacht. The house is 20ft. in front 

 and 41ft. in depth and about 10ft. in height. The main 

 room in front is 20x17, with four bunks on each side, 

 making eight in all, with a wash room on one side and a 

 roomy closet on the other. This constitutes the cabin. 

 The room next adjoining is the dining room or mess room, 

 and is 12.6x20, and in the rear of this is the kitchen or 

 galley, and also the men's room or forecastle. The 

 whole is surrounded by a piazza 8ft. in width. A plat- 

 form 30ft. in length runs to the railroad track, on which 

 you step as you leave the cars. In the partition between 

 the cabin and the mess room is a door, through which 

 you pass from one room to the other, and also an aperture 

 in which stands a stove, one-half in the cabin and the 

 other half in the mess room. The cabin is well furnished 

 with carpet, chairs, center table and a chandelier, while 

 the bunks are provided with mattresses, pillows, sheets 

 and blankets. 



The neatness and novelty of the place at once arrested 

 our attention and struck us with surprise. Then we 

 were in the middle of the bay with a commanding view 

 of the waters and the best gunning points within a few 

 minutes' row of the house. And then the table! I will 

 not describe it. Diamond-back terrapin, oysters, fish and 

 game, with vegetables, fine bread and butter and the 

 purest of all waters (filtered rain water) will give you a 

 foretaste of what Martin's noted steward, Clarence Rus- 

 sell, will provide for you. 



If you seek pleasure and are fond of gunning and fishing, 

 go there. If you are in pursuit of health you will find it 

 the best sanitarium you ever visited. The air is delicious 

 — no malaria — everything is purity itself. On Sunday 

 we saw hundreds of geese and ducks pass over the house. 

 The place and all its surroundings will charm you. You 

 do not have to wait for wind or tide, for the iron horse 

 takes you to the very spot. 



Each bunk is 4ft. 2in.x6ft. 4in. The accommodations 

 for eight are first-class, though double that number can 

 be accommodated by sleeping two in a bunk. 



Martin's address is Humphrey Martin, Manahawken, 

 N. J. Write him a week before you start and see if he 

 can provide for you. Martin himself is a superior man. 

 He has gunned for my friend of the New York Central 

 for fifteen years. His house is open to gentlemen only. 



To reach his place leave New York from foot of Liberty 

 street via Central of New Jersey for Barnegat, then 

 change to the Tuckerton R. R. for Manahawken and then 

 to the Pennsylvania R. R. for Humphrey Martin's in the 

 middle of the bay. E, H. N, 



